


Merchant's Tail

by Baekbitficfest, baeksbabygirl



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Mermaid/Merman AU, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, mention of slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 07:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10986444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baekbitficfest/pseuds/Baekbitficfest, https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeksbabygirl/pseuds/baeksbabygirl
Summary: Baekhyun doesn't expect anything but to trade one set of chains for another when Junmyeon purchases him from two cruel humans. Lucky for him his new owner actually has a heart.





	Merchant's Tail

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt # 141
> 
> A/N: To be honest, I really struggled in finishing this fic. I had so many ideas of where I wanted this to go and time just wasn't on my side as I ended this fic very late. So the ending is probably going to come across as rushed and not very well written, but I fully plan on revisiting this AU at a later date on my own time - I just hope that the prompter isn't too upset with me for not going into full detail as I had planned originally, or what they had really asked for with their prompt. Despite that, I really hope you all enjoy the fic! And thanks to E for being so patient with me as I finished this off, you've been a great help in encouraging me as I tried to get this all typed and written up!

**_Prompt #_ ** _: 141_

* * *

 

 

The only time they had ever cared about him was when they had a party scheduled. And it wasn’t truly _him_ they cared about – no, it was his appearance and the beauty of him, the appeal of him, that they cared about more than anything else. They cared about how their guests reacted to his singing, and how much money they spent on illegal drugs or on alcohol that was more than likely dirt cheap, but that they got away with selling for hardly the same amount as what it cost the two men to buy the whole barrel of ale.

The tank he was in was also washed – cleaned and scrubbed so it shined immaculately. However, that was all they did to really make anything better. Filling the small tank with enough water for him to fully submerge, the tank just big enough for him to move around in, maybe do a few laps without getting tired. But it was nothing compared to the ocean and beautiful waters that he had called home before this wretched prison.

Even if they had offered him a decent tank, even if they fed him when there were parties, it was still a prison. And the way they removed him from the tank so that they could have it cleaned? There were nicks and scratches and whole scales ripped from his tail that he would probably never be able to heal from. Whatever chemical they put into his tank before and after cleaning it had his own natural healing mechanisms failing.

“Look alive!” one of his captors yelled, tapping vigorously on one end of the tank before looking at him through the glass. It was not wide enough for him to hide from the two men that called him pet, but it was enough that he was still not as close to the man’s face as he might have been.

They had hauled his body out of the tank only that morning, and he was still lethargic from the chemical smell and taste of the water, a small poison ingredient that left him obedient and not strong enough to possibly try to swim away if it were even possible.

Which it wasn’t.

Baekhyun was forced to smile and wave his tail and come to the surface so people could look, ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at the magnificence of him. Not that he was truly much to see. He could remember mermen and mermaids in his community that were so much more than he was – more beautiful, more talented, more…everything. It had been a shock to him when his captors had taken him from his small home and locked him away in a cavernous room without more than a bucket of water splashed on his tail every few hours, maybe every other day. It had been torture, and he had felt like he was dying very slowly. He probably was still dying – but the Mother had a wicked heart these days, or she just could not hear his prayers when he was not close to the sea anymore.

Whatever the reasoning, he knew he was going to die here. Like this – ogled and owned by human scum.

 

Junmyeon had ignored the invitation when it first came two days ago, had ignored it by throwing it back on the small desk in the rented space of the inn. He had been staying there for a few days, unsure if he should pack up and head to the next seaside city, or if he should stay to see what the city had to offer. He was a merchant of trade and sea, a man that had gone off on his own at a young age to travel the small world they lived in, keeping to trade routes so that he could learn more of culture and currency.

He had been lucky to have such a smooth, seasoned sailor take him under his wing so early on – before Junmyeon was going off on his own again, abandoning his mentor to start a career of his own.

He had to admit he missed the old man, but he was also doing pretty well for himself now, a name of his own that people knew well enough, and of which had garnered the strange invitation now lying there on redwood desk.

 _You are cordially invited_ – the thing was really just a bunch of bullshit. It was clear where the venue was – dirty and illegal as it was – as well as the reputation that kind of place had for itself. And it certainly did not warrant such a formal invitation, let alone be considered a place of refinery, enough to hold a party like the paper suggested. Junmyeon had stopped there a few times in his rounds of the city, where it was close to the harbor and docking stations. He had even stopped inside to see what kind of business such a place brought in, and he hadn’t been all too surprised to see it near bustling on the surface.

But he had also seen the backdoor that led into the upstairs part of the large warehouse, and had no doubt that there was something nefarious going on up there as well. Even as the markets seemed tame for black market offerings.

His curiosity seemed to get the best of him though, because two days after he had received the invitation, he had signed and brought it back to his face, reading through the details again before something caught his eye that hadn’t before.

 _Mermaid entertainment_ – listed there as the main attraction to the event, and something that he had most likely skimmed and dismissed upon first reading it. Now he looked and read closer, interest catching as he wondered if the dealers he was moderately familiar with had actually gone through with catching a real mermaid and training it to behave enough to perform party tricks. He had a feeling that was about as likely as catching one himself, but he knew that they had their own ways of doing things, of which he had never bothered asking them to share. He knew the two men in question on just barely, and had a feeling that if anyone was going to actually pull something like that off, it would be them.

So he marked off the place where it told him to RSVP, and he brought it down into the lobby to send off…

 

That night, Baekhyun did not see anything more than the ordinary. It was the same people, just different faces each time. This one had a long, overflowing gown on, while another wore rags that could have probably passed for fish netting. He sang through it all, watching and listening through the music playing softly in the background. They hadn’t wanted to drown out his voice – which was made to be the main attraction tonight. Baekhyun had heard whispers of them wanting to sell him off to the highest bidder tonight, but he hadn’t thought it would be anyone better than these two men. Illegal, down-right dirty men that traded away live animals and people. Men that Baekhyun’s family would have been loathe to let take him. Of course, they weren’t exactly there to protect him, nor did he think that they would have tried to save him if they had been standing right there.

Because even as mermen and mermaids, they all had the ability to grow human feet and legs. Baekhyun only chose not to – as he had never done so before…

His voice always got a tad bit cracked as the night went on, but the humans never noticed. They were only concerned with the look he gave off – of the general sound of the song, rather than the actual meaning behind the words he sang.

They would never know the true meaning anyway, even if they did understand that the crystals floating and sinking in the water surrounding him were tears.

It was only about halfway through the night when things took a turn. A stage lit up at the center of the room, and then one of his captors laughed – the dark sound catching everyon’e attention. He had never liked the sound, could never like a sound that he would only associate with this prison of a tank that had become him permanent home for the past however long he’d been stuck here.

“Thank you all for coming tonight.” The voice drawled, his captor grinning wide, with teeth missing and fake ivory replacing it. He was sure the replacements had looked real and true at one point in the man’s life, but they looked fake and outdated now, even from the distance in which Baekhyun watched this carry on. “I know you’ve all been rather interested to find why we actually displaced our little _trinket_ tonight,” he said in regards to Baekhyun, hand waving in his general direction. Had he the chance without room for punishment, he would have sang a note high enough to shatter all of their eardrums.

He knew that wouldn’t be wise, though.

The other man picked up where the previous had left off, “In truth, we’re looking to sell the poor thing off. You see, we’ve grown quite fond of our little friend, but we’re on the up and up – we want to share the wealth with everyone.” And the second man’s grin was slightly better, but Baekhyun still could not stand the sight of either of them.

Mother save him.

Baekhyun continued to sing, his tone changing as the lyrics morphed and changed along, too. He sang of lies and thieves that stole souls and resold them – only damning them more than they had once been. If he could speak without possibly receiving punishment, he would have. But he was lost now, completely and utterly lost.

It did not take long after the announcement for most, if not all of the guests to turn to turn, eyes wide and searching as they saw him through the glass. It was double enforced and he would have liked to imagine he would be safe from their prying hands if they did indeed come closer to try to take him from the shallow tank. Like he was just like a fish, their minds instinctually focusing on what would keep them alive to see another day, and that was it. He continued to sing as if the humans’ stares and yelling did not bother him in the slightest. He would be the image of perfection, of complete obedience.

He hoped that he at least got a kind owner, someone that he could trick into letting him go. But he didn’t believe he would get so lucky. He was only going to be trading one pair of shackles for another.

Baekhyun thought on it then, and he could not remember the last time he had been outside, the last time he had seen the sun and sky, or had heard the push and pull of the waves.

Voices rang out all in one string and his song was drowned out. They did not care – they only cared for the allure of him. The dealers – his captors – only cared for the money he brought in, and how much less trouble he would be now that he was off their hands, sold to the highest, most wealthy bidder.

The bidding war went on for quite a while, longer than he had originally anticipated it would have gone on for. Baekhyun had assumed it would take no more than a few minutes for someone to find a price too high to rival.

He had been sorely mistaken.

When they had finally come to a price – there were two calls for someone to counter, for someone else to raise the bargaining price even higher than it already was. Baekhyun had known very little of mortal money when he had first been captured, but his captors spoke so dearly of the money they racked in because of him and other illegal products that he had become accustomed to not just the sound of the money jangling in their guests’ pockets, but the look of it, as well. Still, despite all of that, he had yet to touch a piece of the gold or silver coin they often paraded around with. Or even the flimsy paper bills that they carried should the coin become too heavy. He was unsure what the paper was good for. It made more sense for the gold or silver coins to hold more weight, currency wise.

Just when he thought it was going to end, another voice rang out towards the back of the large room, someone holding up a hand as they spoke. The amount of money the man had yelled seemed to be much more than what was currently on the table. Especially as his captors grinned wide, and everyone else went silent as they let the new comer in closer to the front of the party.

Everything else happened very slowly. Baekhyun caught sight of the man who had just purchased him, trying not to scowl or seem ungrateful, though he most certainly was.

The only type of change or release he craved was to go back home.

But he did inspect the man, looking him up and down as he remained quiet. If he sang anymore tonight, he would have a voice at all tomorrow. And how horrible would that have been? Especially if his new owner demanded he sing the very next day?

There had been one point in his life that Baekhyun had loved singing. He had sang for everyone in his small community, even sang from afar as little human children tried to chase his tail underwater. They had never really understood what they were seeing, and even if they did, their parents or guardians never truly believed them.

His captors interrupted his thoughts by bringing the man – his new “owner” – closer to the glass of his tank. He seemed almost worried for Baekhyun, but he knew that this man was probably only putting up a front. No human could have possibly cared for him, not like his own had, not like they would now.

Even the dealers before him hadn’t seemed too bad at first. He had almost believed they were going to take care of him – had almost allowed himself to believe such a lie.

Baekhyun had been wrong about very many things within his time in the human world. It was more than just slightly different compared to his home beneath the waves – a home that he missed sorely now, and would miss until he had the opportunity to return someday. He hoped that he had the chance to return, even if it cost him his soul. He was already a little damned, wasn’t he?

His captors told the man of how “well-behaved” and “trained” he was, as if they could possibly have trained him, like a school of fish was trained to form designs, or like a land dog was trained to perform tricks. But he supposed they had in a way trained him, teaching him to do as they asked or to suffer for it later.

There had been one time when they had tried to scale him, to peal away his tail as if it could or would reveal his hidden legs. He had cursed them in a language that they could not translate or ever hope to understand. And they had only taken that as a challenge to test his ability to hold back crystalline tears, tearing and ripping at him even more. There were whole chunks of his scales missing now, though some had re-grown over the last few months.

The man’s voice – soft and almost shy at first despite his hard exterior – caught Baekhyun off guard enough for him to look up. Their eyes met before he was pushing further away from the glass, though there was truly not much room for him to move around in the small tank. Just large enough for him to push himself behind one of the large corals that they had placed in the tank along with him – made for “decoration” as if he were a common household fish.

“You should bring him to my ship, then. I’ll be leaving in the morning.” He pulled out a small pack of coins, the sound of them rattling long in Baekhyun’s ears as he listened intently to their exchange of words, “I’ll give you the rest tomorrow, when I see him safely delivered.”

What caught Baekhyun’s attention more than just the way the man spoke, was the fact that he had referred to Baekhynu as “him” rather than an “it” as he had so often been called by his captors. He almost felt like there would be some type of hope with this new man. And he hoped that it was not just a respective front that he displayed now, but an actual decency to the man that had purchased him – for whatever reason that may have been.

But, despite all of that, he was still being bought and sold as if he were no better than an animal. Because that was how they saw him, right? Humans often treated animals better than they did merfolk, or those that had magic in their veins as he and others of his kind did.

How would this man be any different?

His captors agreed to the man’s terms, thanking him for his continued business, saying they would see him the next morning with his “purchase”, again making Baekhyun an object rather than a living, breathing being.

So Baekhyun watched the man go, almost hoping that he could be wheeled away now with the man.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t that lucky.

 

Junmyeon woke in a cold sweet, heart pulsing hard in his chest, resounding in his ears.

Just stepping into that place last night had been a little more than he could handle. There were criminals there, but also nobles and other rich subjects of the Crown. They were doing things just as illegally as the dealers had been, however high class they were. It was all the same.

And even if their business kept him afloat, Junmyeon often wondered if the money he took from them was dirty in a way.

Or was all money inherently dirty?

He hurried through packing his belongings, the inn servants and staff moving to take them along to the carriage outside, on its way to the docks to load onto his ship. He thought it strange that by the end of the day he would be on the sea again, only this time it would be with a merman aboard his ship.

Junmyeon wasted no time meeting the dealers at the docks.

 

They couldn’t exactly wheel him away down the docks, Junmyeon knew that much. And he also knew that even just the possibility of carrying the mer-creature was…nearly impossible with his tail. He was simply much too heavy for such a thing. Even if his torso was seemingly skin and bones. The merman was too small for what Junmyeon had thought his proportions should be, definitely ill-fed and malnourished.

When the dealers took him down to the docks, he was no where to be found. They carted him around in a wooden box, concealing him from the large crowd that mulled around the docks and harbor market, people yelling for sales and whatever wares they had to sell that day. When they came to a stop before him, they nodded for him to open the top lid of the wooden container so that he could peer inside to see that the merman had been safely delivered and was not harmed in any way. After all, this was a “product” he had just bought, and he had asked for him to be safely delivered to him.

Inside the wooden container, the merman was either asleep or knocked out. Junmyeon could tell from the faint shimmer reflecting off his tail that several scales were missing in large chunks, though he had a sneaking suspicion that had happened prior to his purchase of the poor thing. He could only suck in a breath and nod, hoping that when they got on the open water it would revitalize the merman to his full potential. Or at least, create a space for him to do so over time. Junmyeon was fully prepared to try to nurse the sallow thing back to health, his cheeks sunken in, and his body rail-thin, though his hips where his tail protruded from the rest of his torso was slightly thicker than the rest of his body. Junmyeon had a feeling that was only coincidence, and just the way his body was originally made.

Still, he looked far too thin to be healthy.

Junmyeon, despite the money it had cost him, was happy to help him. To nurse him back to health with the potential to release him as soon as possible, depending on what the young merman wanted. The thought – of the merman’s age – caught his attention though. How old was he exactly? The tail, however damaged it was, looked powerful and strong, and at the very least had been so at one point in the boy’s life. Junmyeon wondered if the boy – merman – would speak to him when he awoke.

He wondered if he was able to speak the common tongue at all. He had seemed to understand and know enough the previous night to know that he was being bought and sold by Junmyeon, but did he grasp the full language, or at least enough of it to both comprehend and respond back?

That would be a question to ask when he was conscious.

When the dealers had put him on board, the wooden crate large on his front deck, Junmyeon thought it wise to wait until they were a little ways out from the dock before they took the poor boy out of the crate to hall him up inside the bottom of the ship where Junmyeon had been sure to square away space for him. He wasn’t sure how much he would enjoy being in a storage tank – usually the tank that he and his crew used when fishing or collecting seaweed, but it was large enough that the merman would have plenty of room to move – maybe even more than that tank the dealers had placed him in. And it certainly was more of a scenic view, with a glass bottom so that he could see the seafloor below them as they sailed across the waters.

Junmyeon almost hoped he liked it – like it was a gift, but knew it was only an exchange of prisons.

“You do know you’re dealing with a dangerous creature, don’t ya?” one of the dealers ask him in a low aside, “We sold it to you in the hopes that you would understand, Kim.” and he positioned a hand out, reaching towards him as if to express concern. Junmyeon sidestepped them, scowling slightly.

“I know full well what he is, and what he’s capable of. However,” he now pulled out a pouch of coins, the rest of their payment. “He is mine to do with as I wish now, isn’t he?”

The dealers shrugged, not caring either way as they took the money he offered them, inspecting the coin and then deeming it sufficient payment for their unholy transaction. Junmyeon felt dirty and rotten about the whole thing, only hoping that he was able to nurse the merman back to health and then release him should he wish to go back home.

The two dealers did nothing more than walk off his deck, words spoken in clear as they stepped off and onto the dock below.

“Only hole the creature has is its mouth, Kim. Might want to keep that in mind.”

Junmyeon scowled once more, disgusted that they would even suggest such a thing. Not disgusted in the concept – but their…indignation to warn him the “thing” could only fulfill whatever subservient desire he had.

As if he saw the poor boy as some kind of sexual object. He felt his skin prickle with agitation as he watched them go, not even bothering to look back on him as they left.

Junmyeon turned his back then, trying to count out all of their vulgar words from his mind as he readied the rest of his ship, as well as his crew members to sail.

He was ready to be rid of this town…

 

Baekhyun woke to his head throbbing and the memory of his captors taking him from his tank only to stuff him inside a large wooden box. They had thrown something in there with him, only for the thing to detonate to a soft sound and spread noxious gas all around him, the color filmy white as it blanketed the small space they had stuffed him into. He had been out cold and unconscious no more than a minute later, unsure what they were doing with him or where they were taking him.

He knew he was now sore, and that he would have a hard time sitting up, but at least he had been taken from that gods’ forsaken wooden box. He wasn’t sure where he was, but it was open and he could hear the waves moving beneath him, a comforting sound.

Baekhyun had to be on some sort of ship, or perhaps he was dreaming and none of this was real.

Looking up and glancing around himself, he didn’t recognize anything around him. The wooden box was gone and all that remained of his previous surroundings was the cloth that the two men had wrapped his tail in before throwing him into the box. It blanketed his lower half, as if covering him up. What was odd was that somewhere in his unconscious state, he had changed from his tail and into his human legs, as if his mind had told the rest of his body that this was the safest thing to do. He wondered if his body had sensed danger somehow and had protected him by doing this.

Nothing around him was familiar though, and he wasn’t skilled enough on human legs to get around without stumbling and falling over. If the sound and rocking of floor beneath him was any indication, he was also on a boat, so he didn’t believe that getting anywhere while on a rocking, unsteady surface, would do much help to his legs, either.

A creak sounded above him, and then a door opened to reveal a bit of sunlight. Baekhyun almost wanted to hide, to dive into the encapsulated water across the room and hope it led him to safety. He didn’t understand the reason for the glass contained water, and wasn’t that close to it that he could see to the bottom of the container. It lay flat against the wooden floor though, and he could only assume that it was either meant to hold him or other sea creatures like him.

What had he gotten himself into?

“Good, you’re awake.” A voice started – the same voice that had made a deal with his captors the night previous. The same voice that had either rescued or damned him further. Baekhyun looked up to see the man standing there with his face contorted a little in confusion and frustration. He had gotten good at reading human emotions that he could understand some of what flitted across the man’s face. “Though I did tell them to keep you closer to the water in case you needed it.” the man shook his head before offering a hand to help Baekhyun stand. When he refused, or really…just didn’t move to grasp at the stranger’s hand being offered, the man nodded and made a shallow sound in the back of his throat.

Baekhyun didn’t say a word as he watched the man move closer to him, though still cautious as he moved – as if he were afraid of scaring Baekhyun away. Not that he could run away if he did feel threatened. The man had the advantage here, and he couldn’t see an exit other than taking the stairs or trying to get into that glass tank in the corner of the room, of which likely did not have an exit.

Mother wanted to punish him for something, wanted him to learn some sort of lesson. Perhaps it was teaching him not to get too curious or fond of humans as he had so long ago. Because this was the mess one ended up in when that happened.

“Your tail was damaged – I’m sure you knew that. I’m uh…” the man paused, glancing down at Baekhyun where he lied there only wrapped up in the thin blanket, with nothing else on besides. It seems the man didn’t know how to word his sentence or question, but Baekhyun wasn’t about to speak up and tell him why his damaged tail had turned to what looked like human legs. In fact, he promised himself now that he was never going to talk to the man at all.

Even if the man had bought him, that did not mean Baekhyun actually had to speak with him. And even if the man seemed good-natured, maybe even innocent of wrong doing.

“Alright.” The man said awkwardly, “You don’t have to talk to me, even though I know you can understand exactly what I’m saying.” Was it that obvious that Baekhyun could understand the human’s common tongue? He had lived so close to humans all his life that he had practically grown up speaking the language. “But I would like to get to know you, who you are and how you got into that mess back there.” He scowled, almost to himself rather than to Baekhyun, “And so I can better care for you. I would like to bring you home – wherever it is you call home. But I need to make sure you’re healthy first, and won’t end up in the same situation again.”

Baekhyun didn’t understand why the man cared so much – why he was making such a fuss over someone that was not human. He knew that sailors seemed to have a healthier respect for merfolk than the humans on land did, but this man – despite the ship – did not scream sailor to him.

It was odd, but he remained silent anyway.

The man seemed to know it was hopeless to try to get him to reply back. So he only shook his head and sighed, rubbing his face like he was exhausted. Baekhyun had seen plenty of humans do the same thing, rubbing at different parts of their body when they were nervous, scared, maybe even both. He could remember their voices, too, and how they changed when their emotions spiked or fell.

“I’ll come check on you in a little while, then. In the meantime, do you want to get into the water?” and he nodded toward the other half of the room where the large tank of water was carved out of the floor, “I didn’t have it made for you, but it’s full of seawater. I’m sure it’s not much of an improvement from what you had been subject to back in that warehouse, but it has to be better than fresh water, right? I mean…you’re a saltwater merman, aren’t you?”

The question caught Baekhyun off guard, because how could the man have known? But to be quite honest, most of their kind these days came from saltwater. The humans had hunted and killed off most of their freshwater brothers and sisters.

It wasn’t something that Baekhyun liked to think about.

Still the man persisted despite the fact that Baekhyun remained quiet and unresponsive.

“Okay then…well, if you’d like to move over there yourself, I’ll move the glass out of the way. And here.” The man held up a finger, something that Baekhyun knew meant the man would be back momentarily. His captors, and so many of their guests had used the sign that he couldn’t not know what it meant now. Prior to being captured by humans, though?

He would have had no idea whatsoever.

The man returned a few seconds later with a contraption that had wheels on the bottom. It was not very long so it could not possibly hope to fit all of Baekhyun’s human legs atop, but it looked like it could get him over to the other side of the room without him having to touch the human man before him, or vice versa. A fact that he very much appreciated.

“Here.” He said, displaying the object before him, setting it down on the wooden floorboards. “You can use this to get around the room if you can’t walk on your own. I don’t know how that works,” and he pointed toward Baekhyun’s legs, “But this should help.”

The man got up, letting him to these things on his own, whether it was moving to lift himself up on the wheeled contraption, or if it was to just lie there as he had been doing previously. Either way, the stranger nodded and went to leave before remembering to open the glass tank across the room. He did so quickly, muscles moving beneath his clothing as he pushed the glass away from the tank’s entrance, and lifting it up and over his head only to set it down a few feet out of the way. It was an odd contraption and Baekhyun wondered how deep the thing was, as he could not see from where he sat. But there was no way he would make a move to go over there, not when the strange man was still looking at him, as if waiting for him to move.

He nodded again, still a mess of awkward and unsure before saying, “Very well. I’ll come down again with some food for you.” And then the man was leaving him there alone.

Baekhyun made his way slowly over to the tank full of seawater.

 

Junmyeon could understand why the merman did not want to speak with hum, but he did not understand why it was taking so long.

He had been sailing with the merman for almost two weeks now, staying away from major cities so as not to scare the boy, or to draw unwanted attention. He knew that rumors would fly if the dealers spoke so casually around others. He was a merchant, selling and trading foreign products was how he got by, so it only made sense for his name to be in conversation, and then for the rumor to spread that he had an illegal merman aboard his ship. Though not technically illegal – the royal family had never decreed the catching of the merfolk as illegal – it was still not a very…pleasant rumor to be spreading around with his name attached.

Especially as it was all completely true.

Junmyeon wanted to care for the boy, to return him home, or to somewhere he would at least be safe. There were too many within the Kingdom and neighboring provinces that would take advantage of someone like him, human or otherwise. He looked too weak, too young. Even after a few weeks of good food and enough room to move around.

He almost felt a little guilty thinking about the dealers, and what they had yelled after dropping the boy off in that wooden box on his deck. He was angry enough about their comment to care for the boy’s wellbeing, if for no other reason.

Junmyeon had tried caring for the boy as best he could, offering to soak the water with medicine so that it would heal his tail – that had somehow returned though when Junmyeon first saw the boy conscious he had human legs rather than a tail. He had never thought the merfolk could change between forms, could disguise themselves as humans.

But he had seemed to fragile, so human in that moment that he hadn’t really known what to say.

Still, he offered him medicine, offered him not just soaking tablets that would disintegrate in the saltwater he swam in, but also solid capsules that he could take that would help him regain his energy. When Junmyeon had asked Sehun – the crew nurse – if he could make the merman take the medicine, even Sehun had come back defeated. The boy did not trust them in the slightest, even Sehun that had such a friendly face when he tried hard enough.

Junmyeon had seen the boy scowl too much for him not to know, but he was also one of his best crewmates, though the boy was young and a bit inexperienced. He was still more skilled in nursing and medicine than Junmyeon could ever hope to be, so he supposed they all had their hobbies and strengths.

What had made him want to keep trying all of it though, was the expression the merman had on his face every time Junmyeon came in with food. Whenever he walked down those steps, he heard the water cease splashing, almost as if the merman had been doing laps in the tank. It certainly wasn’t too large for doing such things, but it did take up a little over half of the bottom of the ship. When he had it created and installed into the ship, he honestly had not been thinking of what he would do with it, thinking it would probably be more of a burden that it was actually worth aesthetically. But he supposed now it would serve a greater purpose, and he would be glad for it, too.

The merman – of whose name he had still not figured out – would go absolutely still whenever Junmyeon came down the stairs with food, and only a few times had he noticed that the boy only touched his food when he thought that Junmyeon was gone, scarfing down the entirety of his plate without even bothering to look into what it was. The first few times Junmyeon had left food, the boy had inspected it more than carefully.

He supposed that it had been long enough for the boy to trust them even a little bit, enough that he trusted them not to poison his food. And that was how he snuck in the medicine that the boy needed, crushing it up into fine powder and masking it in the cream sauce that his cook dressed atop the boy’s meal. Junmyeon supposed it was also lucky that the boy did not reject the fish that they served him, he had been afraid of that, too.

Today, though, Junmyeon decided to drop off the food to him and then stay a while, hoping that the boy would talk, or maybe even eat in front of him. A little bit of progress was better than none whatsoever.

So when he placed the plate down at the lip of the glass tank, he moved to leave before placing himself a few feet away, back against one of the large beams. He didn’t look at the merman, not even when the sound of water lapping against the siding of the glass sounded in his ears. He hummed a tune to himself, wondering how long it would take for the boy to eat his food, or if he would eat at all with Junmyeon there in front of him, watching him from the corner of his eye, just barely.

“Do you like it here?” he asked eventually, the sound of the boy’s sniffing at his food pausing. Maybe he thought that Junmyeon was there, waiting for him to pass out. Did he think that they had put something in his food today and were only waiting for a reaction to come about? Whatever it was, the boy was being cautious with his food now, until Junmyeon had interrupted him, “Or do you want to return home?” he asked.

The merman did not answer him, nor did he move to return sniffing his food. His head was up, eyes glancing in his direction as he looked over Junmyeon’s entire body. He made to move to watch the boy watch him, but that seemed to scare him enough that he retreated a foot back into the saltwater tank. Junmyeon would have to remember to have the saltwater replaced soon.

“I’m going to keep asking you questions until you answer me.” He said indignantly. The merman still chose to ignore him, eyeing him up and down. So he huffed a little before asking, “You don’t sing. Why is that?”

Still, nothing, though the boy did seem perturbed by Junmyeon’s questions and pestering. At least it was a reaction at all, which was much better than the boy remaining absolutely silent and unresponsive. The merman waited a second before going so far as to make a face that only told Junmyeon that he was a little annoyed with either the question, or with Junmyeon’s presence there.

Good, they were at least getting somewhere.

“If you want to return home, you have to tell me where that is for you. I understand you not trusting me, or really anyone on this ship, but if you don’t talk to me, or to Sehun, then how are we supposed to trust one another?”

The merman continued to look away and Junmyeon wanted to yell, but knew that would only push them further away, less than close to a solution. He wondered if having Sehun ask the same questions would produce any responses. Sehun was softer than him sometimes, especially in the presence of sea creatures.

Sehun had a soft spot for merfolk and other sea creatures – it was why he had gone into medicine and marine biology. And also why Junmyeon was quite fond of the boy and wouldn’t think of giving him up anytime soon.

“You realize I am going to need to touch you to let you off the boat, don’t you? That is, if you don’t know how to use those legs of yours.” Junmyeon nodded toward the merman before he found him scowling in his general direction, eyes turned down with his nose scrunched up. It was almost cute the way he did it, but he tried to flood that from his mind, “That tank your in does have a lever to let you out, but you’re much too big to fit through it, and even if you tried and succeeded, the current would take you under and you would get sucked up into one of the propellers as we continued forward.” He sighed, “That, and I certainly don’t plan on knocking you out to get you to do what I want.”

At that comment, the merman looked up a bit shocked, and Junmyeon knew for certain that he understood his words and then also comprehended the complexity of the situation he had been in, and was in now.

Junmyeon tried something else, “I know you can understand me, but for some reason cannot talk right now. Show me somehow, some type of response to my questions. I just need simple answers. I can teach you how to write if you cannot speak, if you do not want to. Or I can find someone reliable in the next city that knows how to speak whatever language you do.”

After two weeks of radio silence, the merman actually spoke up.

“I can understand.” His voice was soft, cracked as he tried to speak up more. Junmyeon had a feeling this was both because of the strain he had placed on it every night for those dealers, as well as not using his voice for the past few weeks while aboard Junmyeon’s ship. Not speaking for that long…not doing anything with one’s voice for that long – it had to have some lasting effects, at least for a little while.

The boy looked pained when he spoke, as if it were physically painful to speak even a little bit.

“You could have told me that beforehand.” But he sighed even as he tried to think of something else to ask, “If you can’t talk, you’re in pain, then I can help you. In the next town I can get you more medicine, some for your voice. You do realize I’ve been feeding you medicine to help with your tail and strength, right?” and maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say, but he said it nonetheless.

The merman shrugged, “I know.” He said, voice cracking once more on the small words he was managing to speak.

Junmyeon sighed, wanted to praise whatever gods had encouraged the boy to finally speak up with him, “So, you’d like medicine then, to help with your voice?” the merman shook his head, a clear no as his brow furrowed. But he did not say anything now, and when Junmyeon rephrased the question, asking if he wanted to take the medicine of his own volition rather than having it forced on him, the merman still refused.

“Fine.” He said eventually, and something in his tone caught the boy’s attention, because he looked up quickly. Junmyeon would help no matter what he said though, because he could tell that the boy was only being stubborn at this point. Like a child.

He got up from where he had been sitting, noticing that the merman had eaten only a little bit of his food, but had at least eaten something in his presence. He pointed towards the plate, asking, “Would you like some more when you’re done?”

The boy seemed surprised that he had offered, but Junmyeon wasn’t cruel. He had money enough to feed his crew and himself three times over.

He wasn’t frugal, but he didn’t want his money either. It was why he was so successful as a merchant – or at least one of the reasons why. Another reason being that he had a good head on his shoulders and even better reputation for being fair on the trading prices he asked for when selling or trading his products. Whether it was rare incense from other Kingdoms, or what have you.

Junmyeon sighed, “You don’t have to suffer in silence. I know that they didn’t feed you well, or often. You don’t have to worry about being hungry here. We have plenty of food, and if you don’t like the food, tell me what you’ll eat. I know your kind can eat almost the same as humans, so you just tell me what you want.” Truth be told, Junmyeon only knew the little he did because of what little had had already known, and because of the small bits and pieces that Sehun fed him of the merman’s kind – of which medicine’s and ingredients worked best with their bodies, and then what they could and could not eat.

Because Junmyeon had not wanted to poison the poor boy upon his first meal aboard his ship.

But the merman still shook his head, pushing further away from the lip of the tank where his rest his hands, further away from Junmyeon. He did speak up in a whisper however, words cracking as the whisper came painfully from his throat.

“No, thank you.” He answered, and at least the boy had manners, but Junmyeon wasn’t exactly concerned with that.

Sighing, he let the boy be to carry himself up the stairs and above deck to relay the boy’s words to Sehun, the only other one of his crew members that he discussed their guest with. The other members of his crew liked to imagine there wasn’t one of the merfolk beneath their decks and hiding in their glass saltwater tank. They had said only once that it was their captain’s prerogative and business as to what he kept below deck.

And he had to agree, but also commend them for their kept secrecy of the matter. He knew he could rely on all of them to keep the merman below their decks an absolute secret from everyone that did not belong in his crew.

When Junmyeon did return below decks to check on the boy – after discussing with Sehun as to what they should do – he found that the merman had crawled from the tank to sit along the edge of the glass rim, only to curl in on himself and fall asleep outside of the water. All the other nights that Junmyeon had come down here to check on the boy, he had been seen at the bottom of the tank, his head rested gently on his hands as he slept and breathed through the gills across his jaw line, just under his chin. Whenever he breathed in and out, the gills along the sides of his skin would move, taking in the water and creating oxygen for the boy to breathe. Junmyeon wondered if it was close to the day that fish breathed and created oxygen for themselves, or if it was completely different because the boy could also breathe through lungs within his body.

Whereas fish died when they were not in the water.

Bending down and getting closer than he had been to the boy, Junmyeon’s hand hovered over his skin, wanted to just test the temperature and see if it was normal like a human’s would be, or if it was cold as the dead as so many had rumored it to be.

His skin was actually chilled to the touch, all except for the boy’s forehead that seemed warm enough to be seen as a fever on any human child. Junmyeon wondered if that indeed meant the boy had a fever, or if it was simply different for him. So he called for Sehun’s guidance, all while the boy slept, unknowingly before them.

Sehun came down quickly, light steps against the stairs, and was quick to get to work on the boy after hearing what Junmyeon had said.

Fingers gently tucking strands away from his face, Sehun nodded solemnly as he felt for both a pulse as well as the fever at the boy’s forehead. It was indeed a fever, Sehun said, but other than that, he was not sure what was wrong with the merman. Sehun asked to be alone with the creature, only asking that Junmyeon keep it a secret from everyone, asking only that they dock in the nearest city just in case, as a precaution.

Junmyeon nodded, not wanting to go against Sehun’s wishes – if only because the young man knew what he was doing when it came to medicine and marine creatures, even when that concerned a merman that none of them seemed to know a damned thing about.

 

Baekhyun awoke with a blanket stretched across his body, and not for the first time in an unfamiliar place. He had a feeling this would be a constant with the human that had purchased him, of whom he had heard his name only a few times. Of the few times he had heard the man called from upstairs, the name “Captain” had always been placed before the name “Junmyeon”. Baekhyun had a feeling that the latter was the human man’s given name.

Without even thinking much of the man, his head throbbed as he tried to sit up. Had they taken him from the water, or had he forgotten that he had lifted himself up the previous night to try to walk around the room, only to fail and curl up on the floor instead, too tired to sink back into the water.

Yes, he had certainly forgotten that detail up till now.

“He’s waking, Jun.” a semi familiar voice stated, low in tone and cadence. Blinking the sleep and confusion from his eyes, Baekhyun glanced up to see the crew nurse sitting no more than five feet from him, several different instruments surrounding him. Had he not been sure this man would never hurt him, he would have lashed out with all the strength he had.

But in the last few weeks of being on that ship, he had a feeling of which people he could trust and put faith in. As little faith as he could spare with being in an unknown place, but faith nonetheless.

Junmyeon – or Jun as the crew nurse referred to him as – perked up from across the room and made his way slowly over to Baekhyun. He seemed worried, but also cautious as he approached, as if Baekhyun was dangerous or a child, or possibly both.

He had never been considered dangerous by anyone in his life except when it came to humans, and it had been a few years yet since he had been a child, though he did still retain a lean, small figure unlike some of the older mermen and mermaids in his old home. Baekhyun wondered if they had stopped looking for him now, since it had been more than a year since he had been captured by those rough men, taking for their own pleasures.

And now here he was, with another human, likely just to be tossed around for the rest of his miserable life. Mother did really hate him, didn’t she?

That or she was teaching him a very peculiar lesson.

“You have a fever, and Sehun here said that you needed fresh air and more medicine, as well as a richer diet.” The man stated, nodding toward the nurse when he said the name “Sehun”. That must be what the other man’s name was. Baekhyun mentally tallied that, keeping note. “We’ll be docking in a nearby city in a day’s time to find the ingredients that Sehun needs to help you. Are you going to let us take care of you?”

The man said all of this slowly, truly as if he were speaking to a child. Baekhyun scowled at the man only to reply in a low voice, his throat still sore from not taking good care of his throat, as well as not talking for the first two weeks aboard the man’s ship. It had been nearly a month now since he had boarded the boat – against his will and while he was unconscious – but he was beginning to know some of their rules and how they carried themselves.

Sehun was calm, collected, while Junmyeon seemed a bit erratic and nervous when it came to Baekhyun. He smiled almost to himself at the thought, wondering how much more he could rattle the human’s sails without even trying.

It would certainly make the rest of his stay interesting, that was for sure.

“I don’t need medicine.” He said, voice indignant as he tried the words. They came out harsh and cracked, but he still tried. “Let me die if Mother decides it.”

His words seemed to take both Sehun and Junmyeon by surprise, both of them exchanging a glance and then Junmyeon ruffled his hair, trying to come up with a good response to what Baekhyun had said. He could sense that he was having a hard time, but it did not matter. If that was the only thing Baekhyun had to do to be rid of the humans forever, then he would die happily.

And probably be damned for it, unable to return to the sea even to die. He wondered if they would be kind enough to throw his body into the ocean to let it mold into the sea foam as he died.

More than likely they would bury or burn his body on land. Damning him even more.

“You believe in a Mother goddess?” and this time it was Sehun who asked, catching Baekhyun off guard enough for the smug look to come falling off his face.

He wasn’t sure how to reply to that so he just shrugged, a half answer.

Junmyeon responded next, “Then let us take you with us to the next city. I know you don’t like the land, but there’s a temple by the port there, secluded and with enough sea air that you’ll be fine. You can use your human legs to conceal yourself, and you look close enough in age to Sehun that you could pass for a cousin or distant relative.” He seemed adamant and determined to get Baekhyun whatever medicine and healing he needed – something that no human would have ever offered his kind, not even in the old times. Baekhyun had heard stories of the friends his kind had made with the humans along the shores, but even they had not wanted to risk getting pulled under by offering the merfolk lodging on their human feet, even if they did know how to use that form.

Baekhyun did not know what to say, so instead he listened to the man as he continued.

“No one will know who or what you are, and if they ask you questions, we can come up with excuses as to why you cannot speak. No one will harm or touch you. My crew is sworn to secrecy, they answer to me and only me. You will not have to worry of being in danger.”

Sehun nodded fervently at that, throwing in something that Baekhyun had not been expecting, “I have a friend in the next city. They’re like you, and I am sure they would be willing to either take you in, or help us in healing you so you can return home.” The two humans let that sink in with him, but his mind could not comprehend that this human had a friend of the merfolk, especially not one that would have the ability to conceal him as well as help them blend in with the other humans on land. It was near impossible.

Wasn’t it?

He really wasn’t sure how to respond to all of this, so he only shook his head. A second later he thought on it, with them staring at him still until he grumbled beneath his breath in a language they would never be able to decipher and then conceded to their wishes – if only so that he lived to see this “friend” the nurse was talking about.

“I will go.” He said simply, and then without word, tried to get away from the two of them to get back into the water. Baekhyun needed to disappear for a few hours without their prying eyes and constant questions. Fever or no, he needed some peace.

And surprisingly, they didn’t move to stop him.

 

When they docked in the next city, Sehun kept to his word of reaching out to that friend – a friend in which Junmyeon had no idea whatsoever the boy ever had. He had never mentioned him in passing, but when Sehun explained how he knew him, it made all the more sense.

The “friend” was actually the person who had taught Sehun all there was to know about marine life. It was why Sehun knew so much about what would help the merman aboard their ship heal and gain strength. From the powdered kelp that they had to ground up to the sea vegetable root that they cooked into his dinner every night. Every small piece of information that Sehun had been storing had been in part thanks to the merman that would board their ship – the second one to now step foot, or…fin, aboard Junmyeon’s deck.

Baekhyun was asleep when the man came aboard, after they had docked very late in the night and had not left the ship except for Junmyeon to sell and trade some of his wares. He had missed an opportunity to stop in another city for a shipment, but they had promised not to hold it against him as he sent along a message that he was needed in another city for a familial issue.

No one knew that Junmyeon didn’t actually have any family – they only knew that he didn’t speak of them.

Mostly because there was nothing and no one to speak of.

Junmyeon tried to wake Baekhyun by stirring the water at the surface, calling for him but not knowing his name. It felt awfully rude to just shout “Hey!” into the water. Sehun supplied an easy tactic, bringing the friend of his down into the lower decks and nodding toward the water tank before them. The man – who Sehun then introduced as Luhan – nodded toward the water and asked Junmyeon if he refilled the water daily.

When he paused, the merman shook his head.

“That is why he’s sick.” He murmured, turning to Sehun to scowl and scold him, “You should have known better than to keep him in such conditions.” And without another word, the man slipped into the water without changing his human legs into a tail.

Junmyeon wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t that.

The two stayed below the water’s surface for quite some time, enough time that Junmyeon turned to Sehun and told him to call for him when they arose from the water. Sehun only nodded, intent on trying to listen to their mumbled words beneath the water’s surface, in a language that Junmyeon had never known Sehun could understand.

By the looks of the frown on his face, it didn’t appear as if Sehun knew the language very well.

He swept up into the top decks, ordering other crew mates to search through the streets for directions to the Great Mother’s temple. It was where Junmyeon had meant to take the merman should he agree to go on land, and where he hoped would be enough to encourage the boy to let Junmyeon help him back to his full health. After all, according to Luhan – Sehun’s friend – they had not been doing a very good job of it up to this point.

Though, they had to have been doing a much better job than those two dealers had been doing for the past several months. It was a wonder that the poor thing hadn’t died while in their hands.

He only hoped that he didn’t die in Junmyeon’s.

 

Baekhyun hadn’t been expecting for the last few weeks to fly past as quickly as they had, nor had he really been expecting to find himself waking the next day with another one of his kind in his face, speaking in his own language and asking for him to wake and speak with him.

The way their language flowed in the water was so much more beautiful than any other human language could have been spoken on land. The garbled mess that most languages were held not even a candle to the way their words flowed through the water and fell upon each other’s ears. Baekhyun could sense the humans watching him from above the water’s surface, but he did not care.

In fact, he almost wished that they could understand just so that they could grasp the full quality of the language. It only came with understanding the words, the phrases, the different tones and ways of saying each word. Even when singing a song – no human would ever be able to understand to its full capacity the beauty of the language, of the deep themes and roots that they held within the words they spoke.

Baekhyun almost felt bad for them.

“Are these humans harming you?” the other merman asked, tail nowhere to be found. Baekhyun wondered if this was the friend Sehun had been speaking of just the other day, promising that Baekhyun would be safe should he choose to come with them back onto land. But why did this brother not have a tail? Did he not feel more comfortable with it?

Baekhyun shook his head, thinking on how he should respond, “They…no, they saved me, actually. I was captured, tortured by others. And they came to rescue me from a life of slavery.”

The other merman nodded, face beautiful like that of the rest of their people. Very many had softer features, even in the saltwater colonies of their kind. Soft features that some humans could not tell the difference between male and female. But it was apparent to their own kind – and besides even that, it did not matter what one of the merfolk had been born as.

Gender and sex were not an issue for their kind, not as it was for humans and other mortal beings.

“Do you wish to stay with them, or do you want me to break this glass so that you can leave? Because I can.” And he glanced toward the glass that surrounded them, towards the bottom of the ship and judged how much pressure he would need to apply to break the glass bottomed ship. Baekhyun wondered as well, especially as he had thought of it no more than a few days after being on this ship.

He contemplated the question, thinking truly if he wanted to leave. He was getting fed, getting medicine that not only had helped in regenerating the vast majority of the scales on his tail, but had helped him regain enough strength to swim back and forth in the tank they had allowed him stay in. It was not large, and the humans seemed apologetic that they did not have a larger holding facility for him – one that was safe for him so that he could heal. Because that was the reason why they were keeping him, he realized. The human captain had said it multiple times, both to him as well as to his crew mates when he did not realize Baekhyun was listening. He had expressed just wanting to keep him safe and healthy.

A concept that Baekhyun found hard to wrap his head around, but…almost thankful that the human had expressed at all.

And the human did not even know his name.

“They’re…kind” he said at last, meaning it completely. They were kind to him, ever since he had boarded his ship, however against his will that decision had been.

They had been kind enough to feed him, to give him an option of what to eat, how much to eat, and even offering to teach him to reach or learn their language as if he had not already known it from a young age. The human captain had offered him plenty more things that he could have lost count of, but it was the kindness and honesty that mattered.

Had there been many of his kind that had shown him the same when he lived with them? Though they, too, had been kind, there were very many that either lived on their own or lived for themselves, only caring for others when it suited their own agenda.

With that, he wondered who was worse – humans or mermen?

The other merman cleared his throat, speaking up again. His words sounded harsh and not as beautiful as Baekhyun would have imagined they were for a born-merman.

That was when Baekhyun realized the merman before him was only half – and he scowled, thinking that the merman before him had known some of the pain he had been going through among company of humans. But perhaps he did not, and was only pretending to know exactly what Baekhyun was going through. Baekhyun did not blame the humans that were taking care of him, though. He could tell, even after a short period of time that they had been telling nothing but the truth to him, promising him things that he knew they would keep. Like the prospect of releasing him if he so wished to be released.

“They’re dangerous, even if you do think they’re kind. That one,” and he pointed to Sehun, as Baekhyun noticed Junmyeon had disappeared, “is the only good one of their kind. He grew up with us, grew up near waters where we played and taught us how to use our land legs when we did not know how.”

But Baekhyun shook his head, “You’re wrong.” And he wondered if he was actually the wrong one. Thinking of it before he spoke again, he knew – he was right, there were other humans that were worth spending time with, that were worth trusting.

Even if he had only known them for a little while.

“There are humans we can trust. Humans that sacrifice their own needs for ours. I do not know more than the two that have helped me the past few weeks, but clearly you have some deep routed hatred toward them, more than I do.” Baekhyun remembered the time when he had been curious of the humans, had swam close to their harbors only to play with the little children playing in the shallows. He had let them play with his tail, chase the colors that sparkled through the water’s surface as the sun went down and the horizon lit up in an array of colors, sparking the azure on his tail into hues of gold and silver that reflected off his scales. He could remember parents’ voices as they asked their children to come up onto the sand, only for the children to complain and say that the “mermaid” was playing with them and they did not want to say goodbye.

Their parents had never believed the children, not even when Baekhyun waved goodbye, finger pressed lightly to his lips so they knew to be quiet and keep it a secret. Even if they shouted it across the sand and beach, the human adults never paid close attention, and never believed their small children.

Baekhyun remembered a time when he had adored humans and had wanted to learn the art of walking on his human legs, of which he had been gifted by the Mother. There was a reason why she had gifted him human legs to begin with, and perhaps he was just now finding out.

Perhaps that was why the Mother was punishing him – though it was not truly a punishment, more of a lesson of sorts.

“You’re a fool.” The other merman said, nose turned up and eyes narrowing as he pushed up and lifted himself above the water’s edge, legs dangling for a moment before his words were blending through the air and traveling down below the water to him. “You’re a damned fool and deserve the sickness their presence will give you.”

But Baekhyun did not care – and made sure to let the other merman know before he disappeared above the docks. He lifted himself up as well, letting him listen to the short hum of a verse Baekhyun had heard in childhood – speaking of those that did not forgive with their hearts, and only let themselves rot from the inside out, speaking of how the Mother would punish those that did not forgive, and would drag them to the depths of the ocean the next time they donned their fins.

The merman spit at the wooden floor, clearly cursing Baekhyun as he fled.

Baekhyun and Sehun exchanged a glance before Baekhyun was shrugging his shoulders and choosing to speak aloud – finally discarding his rule to keep quiet around the humans as much as possible.

“Some of my kind allow land to poison their system and rot their minds.” He explained, “He has not let the Mother cleanse him in quite some time.”

 

Junmyeon watched as Sehun’s friend stormed from their ship without another word in goodbye thrown over his shoulder. He had been unsure what happened below decks until he went to see for himself, noticing how the merman was now speaking, though his voice still seemed weak. He seemed to be explaining a few things to Sehun, and so Junmyeon listened…

When the merman had stopped speaking at long last, explanation after explanation coming from his lips, Junmyeon knew quite a few more things about him. His name, first of all, was Baekhyun. He had been born just before summer had started in his colony, and his mother had given him the name to commend him for the wisdom and virtue he would eventually have as he grew up. He was an older brother to several of the younger mermen and mermaids in their colony, and had grown up knowing that he had the potential to become one of the Siren – a group that, though Junmyeon and Sehun raised eyebrows at, Baekhyun explained they held different connotations to the name in his culture and colony. The Sirens, according to him, were a group of the best singers in not just the colony but the entire region.

Baekhyun seemed almost reminiscent and nostalgic when he spoke, like there was no way of returning to his people. He continued on to say that the way humans viewed their people, especially the Sirens was as seductive, dangerous beings, while in truth they were mostly harmless. In fact, their songs tended to lead sailors _away_ from danger on both the open seas, as well as near harbors. They had been misunderstood, and Baekhyun hoped that he would somehow be able to explain that to other humans, more than just Junmyeon and Sehun.

What struck Junmyeon the most was the fact that all of this had happened fairly quickly – the change of heart, the sudden lightness to Baekhyun’s face. He even asked before he reached out and placed a hand lightly to Baekhyun’s forehead, wondering if the merman still had a fever. Surprisingly enough, his temperature had dropped, if his touch was any indication on the boy’s actual temperature.

“You’re feeling better then?” Junmyeon asked, and without even waiting for Baekhyun to answer him he asked, “Do you still want to go to the Mother’s temple for healing?” to be quite honest, Junmyeon wasn’t even sure Baekhyun needed the healing in the first place. He was almost glowing the way he smiled, the scales along his body that were still submerged in the water reflecting beautifully off the glass in those coalescing way that Junmyeon did not know how to describe.

“No…” Baekhyun paused, as if he were thinking long and hard about what he would say, “Not for healing at least. I would like to stay here though, to see what humans see.” He shrugged, such an off handed, casual thing that Junmyeon wondered if this was even the same merman. He had changed so much in the matter of an hour or so. What had Luhan said that had changed him? And was it part of the reason why the other merman had stormed off on his human legs and disappeared in the crowd? “I realized that I was bottling everything up inside of myself and letting it tear away at me. I blamed the Mother for punishing me, while I had been the one punishing myself after you had rescued me. I saw you purchasing me from my captors as just an exchanging of prisons. But…you’ve supplied me with food and plenty of options, as well as opportunities to leave.”

Junmyeon nodded at this statement, knowing full well that if Baekhyun decided he wanted to leave at any point, he would have released him without any hesitation whatsoever. He may have felt a little guilty if he had released him while he was sick, but the fact remained.

Junmyeon saw Baekhyun as his own person, despite his small, lean frame. He was a being all his own, and Junmyeon had only purchased him to make sure the merman knew that, and got the chance to live the rest of his life.

There was a bout of silence before Sehun cleared his throat, speaking up this time, “You’re staying then?”

At this, Baekhyun nodded, “I think there’s a lot for me to learn of humans, and for you to learn of my kind. There will be…rules for my staying, but I’d like to see how you live. I’d like to…travel the world with you.” And Junmyeon wasn’t sure if this was a trick, but he knew the moment he caught the look in Baekhyun’s eyes. He had always been relatively good at reading people – it was how he knew a good sale when he saw one, and when another merchant was telling the truth or lying. It was how Junmyeon had become so good at his job, other than his inherent honesty and character leading others to trust him, too.

He knew Baekhyun was telling the truth, even with that twinkle in his eyes that spoke of something else. Junmyeon could only hope it was something good.

“You can stay.” Junmyeon said, glancing at Sehun who only nodded to agree with him, “And when you decide you’ve had enough, you only need to tell us you’re leaving and where you’d like to go, and we will safely deliver you there. Whether it’s the other side of the world, or just around the corner. As long as it is your decision and no one else’s, we’ll support it.”

There was something in Junmyeon’s words that caught at Baekhyun, making him shed a crystalline tear that Junmyeon could only widen his eyes at when he saw it. It was gone in the next second, before it had the chance to fall from the merman’s skin. Baekhyun only shook his head, voice cracking as he spoke.

“Thank you.”


End file.
